Alter-Globalization by Pleyers Geoffrey

Author:Pleyers, Geoffrey
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2011-12-29T16:00:00+00:00

Conclusion

While the alter-globalization movement contests dominant and elite-driven globalization, it is itself partly ruled by elite activists who share a top-down approach to social change and organization. Encouraged to become ‘active citizens’, activists are often kept in a passive posture as consumers of events and ideas conceived by a few leaders. This throws into question the credibility of a movement which is represented by many activists and scholars as ‘globalization from below’ (Bandy & Smith, 2005; Brecher, Costello & Smith, 2002).

Nevertheless, even the organizations and events conceived by and for intellectuals have never been limited to this top-down logic. Each one has been overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and energy of grassroots activists. In the WSF, ATTAC-France and countless other alter-globalization organizations, the ‘citizen’ (rather than ‘expert’) trend has succeeded in gaining the upper hand and greatly transforming these events and organizations. As we will see in chapter 8, the fight against domination by experts and ‘residual forms of avant-gardism’ (Glasius & Timms, 2006: 235) plays out within the alter-globalization movement. The numerous criticisms were partially integrated by organizers after the 2003 WSF. They have since tried to privilege small workshops which represent spaces for active participation and exchange of experience between activists from around the world. Thus, as we will see in chapter 8, for the 2005 Forum only a handful of events were organized by the International Council; the rest were delegated to participating organizations and took place in less enormous tents.

The question of the place of intellectuals within a democratic system and projects of social change has been around as long as democracy itself. The Greek philosophers and playwrights dedicated philosophical discussions and theatre plays to the relation between elites and democracy early on (Zumbrunnen, 2004; Wallach, 2001). Thinkers of the Enlightenment for their part put their hope in despots capable of leading their subjects towards Progress. Over the past two centuries, many political or revolutionary movements have put their faith in the intellectual avant-garde, from the British Fabians to Leninists. More recently, the power of ‘experts’ was tackled by Habermas in 1968 and became a focus of criticism in the following decades, notably by the anti-nuclear movement (Touraine et al., 1980). Experts have, however, seen their social role reinforced with the rise of the risk society (Beck, 1992 [1986]) and the growing role of international institutions. Similarly, in the alter-globalization movement which aimed to oppose this technocracy, experts, ‘research activists’ and intellectuals have occupied many key positions in its organizations.

In The Mandarins, Simone de Beauvoir used to ask whether it was really the business of intellectuals to run social movements to reform the world just ‘because they know how to hold a pen and are good at playing with ideas’. Are alter-globalization intellectuals in a better position than others to make good decisions about movement strategy or how to achieve the desired other world? The skills necessary to organize a movement do not coincide with those which allow one to become an expert on a particular issue.

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